‘Survivor: Philippines’ Power Rankings: Round Seven

XFinityTV is blowing up their coverage of “Survivor: Philippines.” Every Monday Jeff Probst and I will tackle a wide variety of topics with the “Survivor” Question of the Week. Every Tuesday I’ll be squaring off against “Survivor: One World” favorite Kat Edorsson in this season’s Power Rankings challenge. Every Wednesday briefly after the show we’ll have a full episode recap and every Thursday we’ll have an interview with the latest eliminated player. Follow me on Twitter (@gordonholmes) for all the updates!

The Rules: Each week Kat and Gordon will create separate Power Rankings. The ranking of the person who is voted out of the next episode will determine the number of points the two players will earn. For example, if Malcolm is voted out this week, Kat will receive 2 points and Gordon will receive 1 point. The person with the most points at the end of the season will be crowned the ‘Survivor: Philippines’ Power Rankings champion!

Last Week: Kat is on a roll. She has picked the last six eliminated players perfectly. Kudos. She had RC in spot eleven, while I had her in spot ten. The current score is Team Kat: 91, Team Awesome Thunder: 95.

1. Denise: I know, I know, I know… Stop judging….from last week’s rating, 8th place to 1st is intense, but I have reasoning! Denise is someone I would like to call “The Dark Knight.” At this point in the game, her odds are becoming greater for a final three and after my experience of Kim Spradlin`s total domination from “One World,” you should never underestimate these women that play the game. Denise will compete when necessary and fall back when necessary and not to mention LISTENING will make her gameplay solid and under the radar. I’m so proud to see my girl win immunity!! Besides, if this group is as bitter as we all think they are she will dominate!

1. Malcolm: Tandang splits up, Kalabaw splits up, and Malcolm was barely there. That’s an amazing spot for someone who’s such a big challenge threat. With all of the splinter groups that are floating around right now, Malcolm and Denise should be able piece together the perfect combination to help them get to the end.

2. Malcolm: So proud this man did NOT win immunity! Way to play with your head! Thata boy! Malcolm needs to watch his back now. Play smart, dude…not kidding. This is the time where you watch the game PLAY IN FRONT OF YOU. We all know you’re as bad as a honey badger, but please don’t remind your tribe mates. Take it from personal experience; wait till the very last days of the game to beast in the challenges. If you don’t win them all your alliance could turn on you, and we can’t have that!

Yup, that was Denise. She survived the Matsing implosion, she survived the Kalabaw mini-implosion and now she’s sitting pretty at the merge. And with all of the bizarre mistrust and in-fighting, her and Malcolm can write their own ticket.

3. Lisa: “Facts of Life” is still in great shape. She did well in the challenge. She is not a normal “Lamb” final three. She wasn’t the first one out, and never is. She understands the nature of the game, and she has heart. I’m happy she is now a part of my dynamic duo and with that being said I hope Malcolm gave her his word.

3. Lisa: You know what makes me think Lisa is playing this game the right way? When Malcolm discovered that she’d found his idol, his first instinct wasn’t, “That sneak! She’s snooping around trying to get an advantage.” It was, “Oh Lisa, she’s so motherly she slipped up while doing my laundry.” That makes me think people don’t view her as much of a threat. Well played, Whelchel.

4. Pete: Give credit when credits due….. #TeamPinkSweater lives to see another day. Pete has aligned himself with Abi, Artis, and the remaining Kalabaw tribe. He was able to blindside RC and now seems to be manhandling once again teaming up with Kent. I don’t know how safe this alliance will be after Penner goes ape (expletive deleted) on them. Besides Penner is a returning player and I bet he has a lot of miles left on his tires.

4. Abi-Maria: The game feels very weird at this point. In fact, I wouldn’t be shocked if anyone from this spot down goes home on Wednesday. Of those folks, I’m putting Abi at the top because she still has an idol and she isn’t as much of a challenge threat as Pete or Artis.

5. Abi-Maria: Nothing too exciting about Abi this week, she got RC out, what else is new? That was the goal, now I’m excited to see her actual play the game.

5. Michael: My first instinct was to have Skup near the bottom of this ranking because he seems like a man without a country. But, with all these weird little factions it might not be such a bad thing to be a lone vote. Hopefully his Penner vote last week is a sign that someone trusts him enough to bring him in.

6. Carter: Carter does not feel like a threat to me, more like a pawn in the game. Not a winner and as you can see he is speaking now, which is great, and clearly he’s not a loser because he is still very much in this game. I enjoy watching players like Carter strive to the top because everyone is too busy blaming each other for some other bull (expletive deleted). I hope he understands how to play the game before “Survivor” plays him.

6. Pete: It can’t be awesome to see your name come up for the first time at Tribal Council, but Pete had better get used to it. If he and Abi are considered to be the leaders of the former Tandang alliance, and he’s the bigger immunity threat of the two, the groups on the outside are going to be gunning for him. Fortunately for him, he now knows this and he and Abi can use their idol if they feel threatened.

7. Artis: I feel like Aritis is an old movie that keeps replaying and I can’t find the remote to change the channel. Sorry, bud, but whose game are you playing? Kent’s? The old Kalabaw tribe is not going to save you when your butt is on the line, but it’s nice to see your social game is getting better. Now when you fly off the handle, Kent will take the blame, not you! So great job, you’re safe for another week!

7. Artis: RC’s exit interview made me a little sad. You’re a nice guy, but you’re clearly not enjoying yourself on the island. With the kind of numbers the majority alliance is boasting right now, it wouldn’t blow up their game to get rid of someone who’s being a real Grumpy Gus around camp.

8. Michael: I can’t decide who will be going home this week. I feel like Skupin is in deep waters after his whole plan went flying out toward the Pacific Ocean with him left there on his raft with holes in it!!! All fingers point to Skupin being eliminated, but after you watch the previews you see Penner shifting all the attention to him, which is fantastic for Skupin. Ultimately, I’m hoping they team up and take over quickly!

8. Carter: Welp…whatever move Kent made last week to rid the game of one of those horrific returning players has put you in a bad spot. Your best shot right now might be to try to create some kind of youth alliance. But, the odds of that working out for you are slim.

9. Penner: I want Penner to WIN IMMUNITY! I have a soft spot for this situation because my little brother “Troyzan” had the exact thing happen to him. Penner against the world right now, and I know I don’t do this often but I’m rooting for the underdog! Let’s go Penner! If he doesn’t win, he’s in serious trouble.

9. Jeff Kent: What the what, Jeff?! To steal a baseball metaphor, it’s like you blew out your pitching staff to win game one of the World Series. You’re now in a terrible position to pull out those other three wins. It Team Tansing sticks together, you and Carter are as good as gone as soon as Penner is sent packing.

10. Jeff Kent: If Penner wins he’s coming after you and do you blame him? Great gameplay, but I’m hoping to see this happen!

10. Penner: As the highest profile member of the tribe that was down numbers, you knew you would be in serious trouble. So, kudos for recognizing that and playing the idol at the right time. But now what? The preview makes it look like you’re going to employ some kind of Randy Bailey-esque burn-down-the-camp policy. It probably won’t work, but I’m sure it will be entertaining to watch.

Watch ‘Survivor: Philippines’ every Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.